Citing the increasing sanctions imposed on Iran, India's minister of trade, Rahul Khullar, said Friday, there is no reason why India should not "tap that opportunity", and announced the visit of a "huge" Indian delegation to IRan later this month.

Khullar is reported to have said,

“If Europe and the US want to stop exports to Iran, why should [India] follow suit? Why shouldn’t we tap that opportunity?”

Earlier this week, the Nancy Powell, the US Ambassador-Designate to Delhi, has said that she hoped to see Indian-Iranian trade "significantly reduced", adding,

 “This is going to be a very important topic and one of those that I will be dealing with very seriously and very early in my tenure."

Khullar's remarks come as a number of Indian officials have publicly defended Indian-Iranian ties, underscoring Delhi's decision that it will only abide by UN sanctions.

Previously Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, had said,

“We sincerely believe this issue can be and should be resolved by giving maximum scope to diplomacy.”

Last month during a visit to the US, Pranab Mukherjee, India’s Finance Minister said,

“Iran is an important country for India despite US and European sanctions on Iran."

Commenting on India's decision, the UK newspaper, The Times, remarked in its Saturday editorial,

"It is hard to see why Britain should actively sponsor India’s taking a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council if it is prepared to be so cavalier with one of the world’s most evident threats."